Paolino da San Bartolomeo

Paulinus of St. Bartholomew(b. at Hof am Leithaberge in Lower Austria, 25 April 1748; d. in Rome, 7 January 1806) was an Austrian Carmelite missionary and Orientalist of Croatian origin. He is known by several names as Paulinus S. Bartholomaeo, Paolino da San Bartolomeo, Paulinus Paathiri, Paulin de St Barthelemi, Paulinus A S. Bartholomaeo, Johann Philipp Wesdin, or Johann Philipp Werdin.

He is also credited for being the author of first edition of the first Sanskrit grammar to be published in Europe. And, for being, one of the first Orientalist to remark upon the close relationship between Indian and European languages - others were William Jones, Gaston-Laurent Coeurdoux, and more.

He was born in a peasant family in Lower Austria, and took the religious habit at the age of twenty. He studied theology and philosophy at Prague. Having entered into the seminary of the missions of his order at Rome, he took the Oriental studies at the College of St Pancratius.

He was sent in 1774 as missionary to Malabar, India. After passing fourteen years in India, he was appointed vicar-general of his order and apostolic visitor. He was very well versed in languages (he spoke German, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, English, Malayalam, Sanskrit, and some languages of India). He became known in Kerala as Paulinus Paathiri. He was one of the first to detect the similarity between Sanskrit and Indo-European languages, though not the first, that honour going probably to Fr Thomas Stephens, SJ.

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